Energy Auditing for Efficient Planning and Implementation in Commercial and Residential Buildings

Abstract

The ideology of ensuring energy-efficient design and construction of buildings by providing minimum requirements is the core objective of this work. Energy audit was conducted to improve the design of the building with incremental requirements to further enhance the energy efficiency. The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) has been modified extensively over the years, starting from its initial deployment in the year 2011 to its latest modifications in the year 2019. The energy conservation standards in ECBC apply to building envelope, heating ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, service water heating, and electric power distribution. It should also be ensured that all-electric systems, transformers, energy-efficient motors, and diesel generators must meet the regulated set of mandatory requirements. From among the various software types that have been approved for ECBC design and application, this study has employed Energy Plus software to simulate the design based on the given input and the selected location. The location that has been chosen for this study was Bhubaneshwar, India. All necessary details ranging from latitude, longitude, weather, time zone, elevation, building area, lighting, heating, cooling, and much more have been covered in the simulation. Utilizing ECBC regulated standards for an energy-efficient building design has resulted in an increase in the energy savings by 27.4%, and thus, the building qualifies to be regarded as an ECBC compliant building.